Project Life: Week 41

Hi everyone :)

This week has been great!  I’ve had a break away with my sister and her family… had my hair coloured… been on an impromptu picnic… bought a few art supplies… blobbed in front of the TV… and had some visits with friends!  It’s what the holidays are all about :)

Here’s an overview of my week:

On Tuesday I headed down to Gisborne to spend some time with my sister and her family.  I’m super pleased that I got the opportunity because it was a wonderful time! 

I actually remembered to take the birthday card I made for her with me and on Tuesday night Tracey and I went out for dinner… a ‘grown ups’ dinner… no kids… no McDonalds… and we had a blast.  We started off at one place with a drink but decided the music was too loud for talking… either that or we’re both getting old! LOL

We moved on somewhere else for dinner and were surprised by how full it was… turns out it was ‘pub quiz night’… and it was great!  We found out that between us we knew lots of the answers and it was a bit like being on the set of Nothing Trivial LOL

On Wednesday I got the opportunity to go with my nephew for his swimming lesson and he did such a great job!  He’s starting to get quite confident in the water and was keen to show Auntie how much he had developed since he started on Monday.

Here’s a close up of the beginning of my week: After the swimming lesson we hung out by the pools for a while and then spent some time in town.  I managed to get some really candid shots of the kids while I was there and knew I wanted to include some of those precious moments in my album.

While I was staying in Gisborne I also bought myself a new laptop.  It was definitely time for a new one and it’s super speedy!  I’ve got quite a few of my programs loaded on it now and I’m getting used to the way it works.

I was also lucky to have an entire queen sized bed to myself.  At home I have a double bed and the queen really seemed to be a LOT bigger!  With all the rugby heroes on the wall I wasn’t short of company either LOL

When I left Gisborne I knew I had to make it back to Rotorua in time for a hair appointment.  Somehow I never seem to get their on time when I’m at home but even with travelling close to 300km I made it back with 15 minutes to spare… how on earth does that work???

Here’s a close up of the second part of my week: Before I left my sisters place I asked the kids to have their photo taken with me… the youngest nephew was totally up for it but the eldest one wasn’t so keen.  I told him that we could also do a silly photo and that changed everything.  There are definitely some ‘crazy’ genes in our family!

Poor Toby missed me while I was away.  He sat up on my bed all day watching out the window for me to come home and wasn’t too keen to move from his spot.  Luckily for me Mikayla got a few photos because they turned out really well.

On Friday I took Toby on a bit of a road trip to make up for missing out on going to Gisborne.  He really loves going in the car and when we stop for ice cream he’s even happier! 

We had an impromptu picnic at the Kaituna Cut and the weather was perfect for getting some good photos.  The fishermen were catching a few good fish too!

I spent a little bit of time on Saturday working on some mini houses for my Christmas Village… the brain cells are working overtime with different ideas I can use so I’m sure you’ll see some progress over the next couple of months.  In the meantime, here’s what I’ve started with:

I’ve still got lots to do on it but I’ve had fun so far!

Today I had a really lovely visit with Sheree and we got busy with molds and resins.  So much fun and we found that we like lots of the same things.  Sheree arrived with mini quiches and coleslaw for lunch too… total bonus!

And now the end of the holidays are upon me and tomorrow it’s back to school, kids and reality!

I hope you all have a great week xx

Project Life: Week 40

Hi everyone :)

Gosh the school holidays have flown by and tomorrow we start the final term for the year… and you can bet it’s going to get crazy around here!

I’m still working on transferring all my files across from my ‘old’ laptop and having a few ‘issues’ as I’m sure anyone who has been through the process will understand.  I’ve even had a couple of times when I’ve basically ‘thrown my toys out of the play pen’ but I’m making progress LOL

Here’s an overview of Week 40:

The first week of the holidays  turned out to be pretty good… I would exactly call it relaxing but it was definitely FULL!

On Monday, Toby and I headed over to Tirau to meet up with Esther for the day.  We had quite a good poke around in the Christmas Heirloom Shop there and I finally managed to find the ‘perfect’ Santa for me!  He’s really stunning and pure vintage which is the look I’m after!  While we were there I even found a beautiful lamp post… complete with flickering light… that simply had to come home with me!

After doing some shopping we headed to a restaurant for lunch and ended up both getting extremely good lamb burgers.  I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last time I have lunch in Tirau!

I also managed to find a gorgeous clear glass vase that I really like.  It’s got an unusual shape and I’m planning on using it lots over the summer as the flowers bloom.

Here’s a close up of the beginning of my week:

After having such a wonderful day on Monday I was devastated to pull a muscle in my back on Tuesday morning.  I felt quite crippled by it and knew that it was going to take more than just one visit to the chiropractor to get it all fixed but Nicola is amazing and she worked her magic!  By Friday I was actually feeling a lot better!

I finally got the last retreat layout done and loved getting a bit more creative with stencils and paint.  My poor Silhouette Cameo worked overtime during the week and I re-sprayed my cutting mats several times to get everything I needed cut out but it worked out well.

A BIG thanks to Nina who helped me out for several days… during her school holidays too!  We cut die-cuts… made embellishment packs… sorted papers and cardstock… counted… counted and counted some more but we got all the retreat packs done and dusted with a fair amount of team work.  Thank you so much Nina for all your assistance!

Here’s a close up of the second half of my week:

After getting all the retreat stuff done I gave my hairdresser a quick call and thankfully she was able to fit me in for a cut.  It was absolutely divine to be able to sit down and be pampered after all the packaging was done.

The retreat itself was AWESOME!  Thanks to Nina (yep she really is that good!) we were all done, sorted and displayed by 2.30pm and we actually got to have a wee break before everyone turned up.  My favourite display was the Christmas one… probably  because Mr Claus took pride of place along with his lamp.

Loreen made a fabulous haunted house which took hours to put together.  It’s completely made of paper and looked stunning!

Mum brought over her boot complete with mini album and I’m sure it gave everyone a few ideas!

Of course we had our group photo which ended up being on our Sunday layout.  The sun shone and we spent some time outside relaxing.  Donna and Tanya even gave the swings a go!

I found this retreat the most relaxing one I’ve ever done… everything went well and it was a wonderful time to spend with scrapping friends. 

In fact I even did a little ‘scrapping’ myself!  I’ve got an idea to create a vintage Christmas village to go on the mantelpiece and over the weekend I managed to get two of my trees done… thanks Hazel for loaning me your glimmer mist too!  Totally love how vintage it turned out! 

I’ll be back this afternoon with my Project Life update for this week.  Catch you soon xx

Feel Good Friday

Hi everyone :)

Well I’ve finally taken the plunge and bought myself a new computer.  I’m now in the process I’ve copying everything over, locating all my program disks and transferring things… I think it might just keep me out of trouble for a while LOL

Meanwhile, it’s Friday again!  Since I’ve just done a road trip down to see my sister and her family I thought I’d look for some pictures and Google images came up trumps!  Here’s my layout for this week:

I actually love driving and I quite enjoy having some time on my own in the car too.  Having just done 550 km in the last couple of days I’m ready to chill out at home before school goes back on Monday.

I’m hoping to get my Project Life pages ready and blogged tomorrow :)

Have a great weekend xx

Belated Feel Good Friday and a quick retreat update

Hi everyone :)

My computer is playing up big time at the moment so the Feel Good Friday didn’t make it onto the blog before I headed off to the October Retreat but it’s here now.

On Monday I spent the day in Tirau with Esther and it’s amazing how one little town can have so much to look at!  As most of you know I love plain clear glass jars and on Monday I bought the most beautiful glass vase… you’ll have to wait for my Project Life pages to see it! 

So here’s my layout dedicated to glass jars:

I saw lots of clear glass while I was in Tirau and those apothecary jars and lolly jars on pedestals seemed to be quite popular with other people as well.

Now for a quick update on the October Retreat!

It really was a wonderful weekend spent with like-minded creative ladies.  We had a lot of laughs… plenty of scrapbooking and the whole weekend just seemed to flow really well.

On Saturday afternoon our host, Mark, took our group photo outside… the weather was gorgeous all weekend:

The theme for this retreat was Halloween and Loreen made this fantastic haunted house and brought it over to share with all of us… it’s made completely out of paper!

On Saturday night we had our a bit of a dress up time and Mum got this photo of some of the ladies who went all out to look as spooky as possible!

Of course we had to get another group photo as well… there’s a few ladies missing from the photo but most of us are there!

Patricia came over with this fantastic plate of goodies… fingers, spiders and bones with a dipping sauce!

And check out these chocolate crackles (love them!!) on the spooky cake stand:

Now it’s time for me to enjoy a bit of R & R before the school holidays are over and I’m heading down to Gisborne to spend some much needed ‘Auntie Time’ with my niece and nephews!

Have a great week everyone xx